6A • November 10, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
Voters endorse Gearhart’s limits on vacation rentals
Rental rules from Page 1A
protect them from the negative im-
pacts of rental property.
Complaints that out-of-town
management was unable to promptly
reply to public safety concerns led
to an increased call for regulation,
including a provision requiring 24-
hour owner contact information.
sewer capacity inspections and cess-
pool prohibitions.
The measure would have elim-
inated a requirement that a 24-hour
representative be able to physically
respond to the site within 30 min-
utes and removed a limitation on the
number of vacation rentals.
A public vote would have been
required for any future amendments
to the vacation rental ordinance or
any subsequent ordinance relating to
vacation rentals.
“Fear is a powerful force,”
measure 4-188 supporter David
Townsend said. “Gearhart has cho-
sen its path … only time will tell.”
Property rights
Road to regulation
The trail to Measure 4-188 began
in 2013, when city leaders and res-
idents sought to improve the stock
of long-term rental housing amid
concerns about how vacation rentals
in residential zones can negatively
affect the city’s atmosphere and liv-
ability.
At the time, the taxing ordinance
for short-term rental properties pro-
vided exemptions for the approxi-
mately 50 single-family homes rent-
ed out under the city’s guidelines.
Repeal of that tax came nearly
three years later, when short-term
A timeline to
Measure 4-188
It started in 1994…
Gearhart comprehensive plan
adopted with goal to preserve the
city’s low density, semi-rural charac-
ter. The plan states, “The city will rec-
ognize the importance of the city’s
neighborhoods and the need to
protect them from negative impacts
of the transient rental property and
to discourage increased levels of
traffi c and similar disruptions,” the
plan states.
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Gearhart Mayor Matt Brown reads election results to a room full of people at a watch party at McMenamins Gear-
hart Hotel Tuesday night.
renters were required to pay the
city’s 7 percent lodging tax.
By 2016, the nature of the internet
and booking trends through companies
like Vacasa and Airbnb added to scru-
tiny of short-term rental dwellings.
Residents in favor of regulating
the dwellings cited Gearhart’s com-
prehensive plan, written in 1994 and
expressing the intent to recognize
the importance of the city’s residen-
tial neighborhoods and the need to
In presenting Measure 4-188
to voters, opponents of regulation
stressed property rights and said
rule changes go “far beyond” com-
mon-sense measures.
“It’s been a long haul and it’s
been worth it,” Planning Commis-
sioner Terry Graff, an opponent of
the repeal, said after election results
were delivered. “You have to thank
the worker bees who worked out of
their kitchens to pull this off for the
city of Gearhart.”
Tuesday’s vote could lead to
further discussion of the short-term
rental ordinance, Lorain said. “I
would like to see where we are in a
year, evaluate where we are and see
what we need to do to change it.”
Brown opened the door to poten-
tial changes.
“I think we should look at this
law every single year,” he said. “I
think we should ask what are the
ways that we can improve this law
for everyone in the community.”
September 2013
August 2015
November 2015
December 2015
May 2016
September 2016
Members of the Gearhart
Planning Commission and City
Council consider changes in the
way short-term rental proper-
ties are taxed and regulated.
Residents fi ll the Gearhart Fire
Hall at the city’s fi rst short-term
rental workshop.
City Council holds continua-
tion of rental workshop. Nine
Gearhart property owners cite
what they say are “inaccuracies,
double-counted data and spec-
ulation” in the city’s data.
City Council members agree
to develop short-term rental
regulations, rejecting a plea
from some residents to conduct
a citywide rental survey before
a vote.
Planning Commission recom-
mends limiting short-term
rental permits to property
owners who have paid 2015
lodging taxes.
After what the city planner
called “30 meetings and eight
draft reports,” the City Council
passes Ordinance 901 unani-
mously without discussion.
October 2016
November 2016
April 2017
May 2017
July 2017
November 2017
Short-term rental owners fi le an
appeal with the state to reject
city rules.
Mayoral candidates Bob Short-
man and Matt Brown clash on
approach to short-term rental
rules. Brown, who supports the
city’s ordinance, wins election.
David Townsend, Joy Sigler,
Brian Sigler and Sarah Nebeker
fi le a challenge seeking a ballot
initiative that would repeal and
replace Ordinance 901.
Oregon Land Use Board of
Appeals upholds provisions of
Ordinance 901.
The bid to repeal and replace
the regulations issued last
fall gathered enough valid
signatures to put the measure
on the ballot.
Voters reject Measure 4-188,
with 77 percent opposed to
repeal and replace of the rules
to 23 percent in favor.
Closure called ‘a huge slap in the face’
Food bank from Page 1A
REBECCA HERREN/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Author William B. Matson (right) is joined by Doug War Eagle
(left) and Floyd Clown, Sr. (center), descendants of Lakota
warrior Crazy Horse, to discuss and sign copies of their book
“Crazy Horse: The Lakota Warrior’s Life & Legacy” at the Book
Warehouse.
Two descendants of
Crazy Horse speak
Crazy Horse from Page 1A
read “did not make sense or
come together well.”
His second contact took
him to South Dakota. How-
ever, the meeting never took
place because, as Matson said,
“He stood me up.” With time
on his hands, he drove to Bear
Butte, a sacred mountain, to
think of a different approach
because the historical one
wasn’t working. He began
climbing and as he put it, “be-
ing a white guy all the spiritu-
ality happens at the top.” Half
way up, Matson’s father spoke
to him and said, “Open your
heart,” which meant “I need-
ed to know the spiritual side
or I wouldn’t know the whole
story.”
Once Matson read the spir-
itual aspect he’d missed from
all those books, it all came to-
gether, but to get the story, he
needed to know the families
and earn their trust.
He fi rst met Doug War Ea-
gle, one of the three adminis-
trators of the Crazy Horse es-
tate. “We were expecting you.
[They] told us you were com-
ing from the west,” said War
Eagle. Matson said he didn’t
know how to react, but went
along with it.
War Eagle told Matson the
family would tell him their
story, but fi rst Matson needed
to join them in a sweat lodge
to determine if his heart was
good; and it was.
From the 1930s to 2001, the
descendants — or blood rela-
tives — of Crazy Horse were
in hiding. In 2001, through
guidance from their ancestors,
they were ready to share their
story as told to them, clarify
the inaccuracies, and put the
myths and assumptions to rest.
“Our ancestors told us it was
now time for the truth, time to
correct everything about our
grandfather and our family,”
stating how all the books ever
written about Crazy Horse and
his family “are all wrong,”
Floyd Clown said.
the food bank for 25 years,
said attempts should have
been made to fi x problems
before the decision to remove
Gann was made.
“It was a huge slap in the
face to all the hard working
volunteers of the food bank,”
Herrley said in a letter to The
Daily Astorian. “I have no
doubt Ms. Gann is correct
when she says 90 percent of
the staff will not be back. My
heart breaks not only for the
people who need help, but all
the volunteers who can no
longer help them. ’”
Seaside’s Nadine Brien
regretted that the board
and Gann could not come
to agreement. “I am sor-
ry this happened, and wish
something could have been
worked out so that the com-
munity would still bene-
fi t from her management,”
Brien said in a letter.
“It’s a much more equita-
ble way to ensure that every-
body who walks through our
doors gets a holiday meal,”
he said.
The board plans to elim-
inate a clothing and house-
hold goods aisle, which is
considered outside of the
mission of providing money
or products that “go directly
to someone’s dinner table.”
The food bank’s prima-
ry mission is to provide a
three- to fi ve-day supply of
emergency food to members
of the community in need, he
added.
The food bank will reopen
on Tuesdays and Thursdays
from 1 to 4 p.m. , a reduction
from two hours of service
four days a week. Volunteers
and board members will staff
the facility as needed, Gooch
said.
Community
response
Meanwhile, residents and
supporters of the food bank
offered a variety of respons-
es to the management shift.
“You owe our communi-
ty an explanation,” Seaside
resident and food bank do-
nor Christina Buck said in
an email to board members.
“If there are problems at the
food bank, why did it come
to a point where it is so bad it
forces a closure? … Your ac-
tions do not just affect those
in need, but also those who
choose to give by volunteer-
ing, donating and supporting
this organization.”
Volunteer and patron Jen-
nifer Barrett said she was
“madder than hell.”
Board members don’t
Call for civility
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
The South County Community Food Bank reopened this
week.
‘YOU OWE OUR COMMUNITY
AN EXPLANATION.… YOUR
ACTIONS DO NOT JUST AFFECT
THOSE IN NEED, BUT ALSO
THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO GIVE BY
VOLUNTEERING, DONATING AND
SUPPORTING THIS ORGANIZATION.’
Food bank donor Christina Buck,
in an email to board members
have a fi nger on the “pulse of
the poor,” she said.
“I have enjoyed so much
what Karla (Gann) has
done,” Barrett said. “There
are needy among us that are
what we call the deserving
poor. Maybe I am naïve, but I
am one of the deserving poor
and it’s been a tough road to
hoe.”
Seaside’s Sylvia Herrley,
whose father Harry Miller
volunteered as manager of
Seaside Mayor Jay Barber
weighed in with a call for ci-
vility and trust for the board.
“I know the people who are
in leadership of the board
of directors,” Barber said.
“These are leaders in our
community who have giv-
en generously of their time
and resources to bring the
food bank to the place it is
today. I have confi dence in
them and fi rmly believe that
their decisions over the past
week were made with careful
thought and deliberation.”
Barber also asked the
community to take a mea-
sured response.
“Let’s step back, take a
deep breath and support our
food bank as they continue to
serve our region as they have
for many years and many
years to come,” Barber said.
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